


Home in a Viper's Nest

by Berd_Alert (Cassa_of_the_fans), excessThinking (Nobodyhasblindedme)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Animal Death, Fighting, M/M, Magic, Mystical Creatures, Snakes, Vore, based on doodles from another person, naga dave strider, naga dirk strider, naga hal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:48:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25267864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cassa_of_the_fans/pseuds/Berd_Alert, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nobodyhasblindedme/pseuds/excessThinking
Summary: Karkat's life has been shit for a long time. Finally, it seems the village has come to finish what they started years ago.They're sure the demons in the woods will make quick work of him.
Relationships: Auto-Responder | Lil Hal/Karkat Vantas, Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Dirk Strider/Karkat Vantas
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	Home in a Viper's Nest

**Author's Note:**

> ....hi 
> 
> This one got..longer then we anticipated. The inspiration for Hal and Dirk's design as a conjoined twin naga came from the lovely Koa_doodles on twitter!! Seriously, give them a follow, their art is amazing. https://mobile.twitter.com/koa_doodles
> 
> Thank you!!

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 12:51 AM

yessss

also can the striders be arboreal constrictors>

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 12:54 AM

YESS

I love pythons :3

they make puppy mouths

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 12:55 AM

:3----<

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 12:55 AM

typically nagas of Dave and Dirk's size dont go for things larger then a fox or badger

jajSGKSGJAJGJA

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 12:57 AM

Dave likes bro strangle bigger prey to share with his conjoined brothers because they can't hunt very well

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 12:58 AM

Also yes, carryng this over, Hal and Dirk have to be careful how much they eat bc they can make themselves sick

Bro took the two bc their mother wanted nothing to do with a doublette, as they don't tend to live long

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:00 AM

of course, Bro abandoned them too as soon as it was apparent they would need constant care

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:01 AM

oh, you meant to type 'to' instead of 'bro' oops

but yah rough childhood for all of them

living on the fringes of the woods, where human hunt out a lot of the decent game, they take what they can get

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:03 AM

I assume they live somewhere tropical

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:03 AM

theyd have to

pythons like humidity

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:04 AM

Dave has taken down gorillas before

And humans

and even other nagas

he's not above cannibalism if his brothers get to eat

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:06 AM

eesh

no wonder their neck of the woods is fairly empty - between humans hunting and Dave's..attentiveness, no one wants to come within ten miles of this place

Which is exactly the sort of place to drop off a little thief who'd stolen once too much

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:07 AM

hence the sacrafices

lmao

Karkat is thrown into the woods with his hands and legs tied, Maybe strung up from a tree

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:09 AM

"There you go, little pawer. A nice treat for the demons out here. We'll be back for the rope in the morning."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:09 AM

Karkat might be gagged

so no one comes to investigate the screams

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:10 AM

What ends up happening is that a jaguar found him first

And Dave and his brothers are settling in for the night when those screams start up

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:11 AM

Dave goes to investigate and finds a panicked human kicking with bound feet at the cat

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:14 AM

With lots of its own deadly weaponry, Dave and the others don't tend to mess with large hunters like that- only if it's been a REALLY bad string of hunts. (Dirk still has a scar from an incident that..Dave doesn't want to think about. When they weren't big enough for their size to make the cats think twice..) 

He wonders if he should..do something.

He's never seen a human bound like this before

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:20 AM

It's wrists are tied tightly to the branch above its head, and its ankles and calved are bound in a similar fashion. Easy prey. He hasn't had much luck with hunting lately, and Dirk and Hal need to eat. They've both been complaining they're hungry

If he kills the cat they can save the human for later

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:24 AM

He slides down the tree trunk, using the lack of light to his advantage. Being so near the floor of the forest is..not great, he doesn't like it, but he'll need the space, and to gt closer. Luckily, the fucking racket the human's making covers any sound. 

The cat is getting irritated, but not bored. It's clearly looking for another way to this primed meal too, and spotting the tree the human's bound to, decides to use its claws for better solutions. It turns

and gets no further.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:27 AM

Dave is wrapped around it, and he squeezes it tight, coiling loop after loop of his long body around the struggling animal until there's a loud c r ack and the cat goes limp. The human goes silent.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:30 AM

Dave grunts as he gets himself untangled, slumping the dead beast off and to the side. Hmph..too much to carry at once and he's not leaving it here overnight. Scavengers are a thorn in his side sometimes..

He looks up to the human's wide, staring gaze, watching, silent and still. Funny..he usually remembers them moving more, like it was just doing..and coils himself up, so he can get at those ropes, pulling a black stone blade from his small belt. The one good thing he ever got from his father.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:35 AM

The human squeezes its eyes shut, clearly expecting to die. Dave cuts the rope holding its wrists to the branch, and it falls to the ground. It's hands are still bound, and Dave takes the opportunity to tie its hands to its legs. Easier to carry if it can't wiggle. He'll haul it up into the tree and then butcher the jaguar so they can eat it tonight.

(psst)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:40 AM

Karkat meanwhile is trying to decide now if it might have been better to let the first one get to him. He'd heard stories, of course, everyone had. The Thing that lived in the deep jungle, soundless killer. 

He didn't expect it to..look like that, though. 

Oh, it's monsterous. Positively pants-wettingly so. The fucking thing just..squeezed the life out off a fucking jaguar like a ratsnake with a mouse. And now it wanted him. 

He wheezed as hands closed around his wrists, man handling him

warm. Dry.

(ye?)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:40 AM

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:41 AM

b b ys

(also, you're still drawing monsters sfjfhg)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:42 AM

(nagas are noodles with torsos)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:42 AM

(angry socks. danger noodles.)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:43 AM

He completely forgets to struggle as the monster hogties him and hauls Him up onto its shoulders. By the time he tries he can't move

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:49 AM

Dave gabs up the cat and begins the treck towards..well. He supposes it's home. 

Not like any of them have a real concept of what a home is 'supposed' to look like. For the three brothers though, it's a massive tree their Bro had found a long time ago. It's getting properly dark now, and things move about him. Bats and nightbirds and insects. Little glowing fungus and moss, starbugs in the shadows pulsing. 

There's wet on his shoulder, and sniffles coming from the human.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:53 AM

He's heard humans cry, beg for mercy as he strangles them. Somehow, not seeing its contorted face makes it ever so slightly worse. Well, nothing to be done. They need to eat.

Dirk and Hal poke their heads out over the branches.

"What did you get?"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:57 AM

"A cat," Dave calls back, more then a little proud of himself. He knows he's not the largest of nagas, and that was no small beast he bested. 

"And uh..some insurance, so we can actuality relax for once," he says, tilting his head towards the boy tied to him. "Now gt down here and help me with this - my arms feel like they're gonna fall of from hauling it halfway across the world for your sorry tail."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:00 AM

Four arms reach down and grasp at the human, who starts shaking as soon as the conjoined nagas touch it. Hal hisses in annoyance. 

"Its so skinny! Won't last long."

"Shhh. It's still food"

They lift it off of Daves shoulders and drag it up into the bough where they make their nest.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:09 AM

Karkat's noises are getting louder again. The sibalent noise of these creatures talking to each other is enough to set his teeth on edge, the sheer strength displayed when hands grasp him and the tail hauls him back like he's truly nothing. The nest is wide, and constructed on a platform of interwoven limbs, grown that way over time. Above him, the branches are tied to form an arch, a little alcove where strings of..skulls..and bones are tied - though in the dakr he cannot see the tiny, threadlike carvings over their clean, white surfaces. Jars of glowing bugs hang about, casting only enough illumination for Karkat to see the movement of inky limbs and vague mass. 

He takes one glance into those glowing red eyes and wishes they'd fumble and drop him, all the way down to a fast end. By the wet sounds of knife on flesh from below, he's not getting one here. 

Dry, warm scales writhe, and soon he's coiled up in dark, endless masses of tail, hugging him so tight he cane feel every rib as he takes a breath. Black scaled hands reach for him - for the rope.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:16 AM

He tries to fight this time, to struggle away, but the tail wrapped tight around him constricts to the point of pain and goes still. Seemingly satisfied, the naga(s?) reach for him and untie the ropes, before quickly pulling his arms behind his back. A more secure position, and one that ensures his hands remain trapped and useless. The two heads hiss back and forth, and one runs a finger along his shoulders and spine. He tries not to cry.

Dirk admires the human as Hal ties it up in a better position for safekeeping. Its so very warm, he'll enjoy curling around it as they sleep tonight.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:18 AM

(question - are we using koa's design where it's two separate torsos, or just one torso with two heads)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:18 AM

(I mentioned four arms, to Koa Design)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:19 AM

(ah, right, ok)

"What would be do without you, Dave?" Dirk murmurs. Truly. 

The younger naga just grins a slightly bloody smile up at them, carefully stripping the pelt from the flesh, and removing the skull. It would be interesting to see what Hal came up with for this one. 

"Don't thank me yet," he says. "We're still gonna have to feed and water it for it to be of any use."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:26 AM

Hal hisses approvingly. "Yes. It's practically just bones and skin. Not enough meat for the three of us."

"You two don't need to eat for two, you know."

"Yes yes, you keep reminding us. We know Dave. It doesn't stop us from being hungry."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:31 AM

He gets a severed limb thrown at him for good measure. Dirk sniggers as his other half fumbles with it. 

He feels a jerk, and turns to see the human in their hold trying to crawl away, finally breaking out of its stupor and making high pitched noises, eyes locked on the meat. 

"We've still got some of those nuts you like to chew in my damn ear, right?" Dirk asks, looking up to their jar collection, just as Hal's opening up, who sends him dirty look.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:36 AM

"Yeah. Hold on." Hal puts down the meat and reaches up, pulling Dirk along with him, and grabs the jar full of pale nuts. He pops the lid and hands it over to his twin.

"Here. I'll try feeding it if you hold it in place."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:40 AM

(ok,and with this, I might have to go to the beds)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:40 AM

(Lmao that is fair. Gnight)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:40 AM

(nihgt)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 11:29 AM

(murnkn)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 11:33 AM

(mlumnin)

(oral surgeons are backed up to September)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 11:37 AM

(yikes :grimacing: my brother is getting his out right now)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 11:37 AM

(what like, as we're speaking??)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 11:39 AM

(yes)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 11:40 AM

(..damn. That's a coincidence. Sorta.)

(replying in a min)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 11:40 AM

(kk I couldn't stop thinking about the twins last night. I have a plan for mating season)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 11:43 AM

(hj god)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 11:43 AM

(naga males are incredibly territorial. They would see each other as competitors)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 11:44 AM

(that. Is a hell of a time for them..)

(so the solution is either Dave comes up with a way to physically seperate them as best he can, or they resort to Angry Jacking It)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 11:50 AM

(it's more like, they attack eachother Hal nearly dies because Dirk is the dominant one and Karkat yells at them until they stop.)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 11:51 AM

(this sounds like a recipe for doubleteaming the poor human)

(yknow. when they're not in a murderous mood)

He wonders if he should..do something.

He's never seen a human bound like this before

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:20 AM

It's wrists are tied tightly to the branch above its head, and its ankles and calved are bound in a similar fashion. Easy prey. He hasn't had much luck with hunting lately, and Dirk and Hal need to eat. They've both been complaining they're hungry

If he kills the cat they can save the human for later

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:24 AM

He slides down the tree trunk, using the lack of light to his advantage. Being so near the floor of the forest is..not great, he doesn't like it, but he'll need the space, and to gt closer. Luckily, the fucking racket the human's making covers any sound. 

The cat is getting irritated, but not bored. It's clearly looking for another way to this primed meal too, and spotting the tree the human's bound to, decides to use its claws for better solutions. It turns

and gets no further.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:27 AM

Dave is wrapped around it, and he squeezes it tight, coiling loop after loop of his long body around the struggling animal until there's a loud c r ack and the cat goes limp. The human goes silent.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:30 AM

Dave grunts as he gets himself untangled, slumping the dead beast off and to the side. Hmph..too much to carry at once and he's not leaving it here overnight. Scavengers are a thorn in his side sometimes..

He looks up to the human's wide, staring gaze, watching, silent and still. Funny..he usually remembers them moving more, like it was just doing..and coils himself up, so he can get at those ropes, pulling a black stone blade from his small belt. The one good thing he ever got from his father.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:35 AM

The human squeezes its eyes shut, clearly expecting to die. Dave cuts the rope holding its wrists to the branch, and it falls to the ground. It's hands are still bound, and Dave takes the opportunity to tie its hands to its legs. Easier to carry if it can't wiggle. He'll haul it up into the tree and then butcher the jaguar so they can eat it tonight.

(psst)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:40 AM

Karkat meanwhile is trying to decide now if it might have been better to let the first one get to him. He'd heard stories, of course, everyone had. The Thing that lived in the deep jungle, soundless killer. 

He didn't expect it to..look like that, though. 

Oh, it's monsterous. Positively pants-wettingly so. The fucking thing just..squeezed the life out off a fucking jaguar like a ratsnake with a mouse. And now it wanted him. 

He wheezed as hands closed around his wrists, man handling him

warm. Dry.

(ye?)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:42 AM

(nagas are noodles with torsos)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:42 AM

(angry socks. danger noodles.)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:43 AM

He completely forgets to struggle as the monster hogties him and hauls Him up onto its shoulders. By the time he tries he can't move

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:49 AM

Dave gabs up the cat and begins the treck towards..well. He supposes it's home. 

Not like any of them have a real concept of what a home is 'supposed' to look like. For the three brothers though, it's a massive tree their Bro had found a long time ago. It's getting properly dark now, and things move about him. Bats and nightbirds and insects. Little glowing fungus and moss, starbugs in the shadows pulsing. 

There's wet on his shoulder, and sniffles coming from the human.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:53 AM

He's heard humans cry, beg for mercy as he strangles them. Somehow, not seeing its contorted face makes it ever so slightly worse. Well, nothing to be done. They need to eat.

Dirk and Hal poke their heads out over the branches.

"What did you get?"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:57 AM

"A cat," Dave calls back, more then a little proud of himself. He knows he's not the largest of nagas, and that was no small beast he bested. 

"And uh..some insurance, so we can actuality relax for once," he says, tilting his head towards the boy tied to him. "Now gt down here and help me with this - my arms feel like they're gonna fall of from hauling it halfway across the world for your sorry tail."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:00 AM

Four arms reach down and grasp at the human, who starts shaking as soon as the conjoined nagas touch it. Hal hisses in annoyance. 

"Its so skinny! Won't last long."

"Shhh. It's still food"

They lift it off of Daves shoulders and drag it up into the bough where they make their nest.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:09 AM

Karkat's noises are getting louder again. The sibalent noise of these creatures talking to each other is enough to set his teeth on edge, the sheer strength displayed when hands grasp him and the tail hauls him back like he's truly nothing. The nest is wide, and constructed on a platform of interwoven limbs, grown that way over time. Above him, the branches are tied to form an arch, a little alcove where strings of..skulls..and bones are tied - though in the dakr he cannot see the tiny, threadlike carvings over their clean, white surfaces. Jars of glowing bugs hang about, casting only enough illumination for Karkat to see the movement of inky limbs and vague mass. 

He takes one glance into those glowing red eyes and wishes they'd fumble and drop him, all the way down to a fast end. By the wet sounds of knife on flesh from below, he's not getting one here. 

Dry, warm scales writhe, and soon he's coiled up in dark, endless masses of tail, hugging him so tight he cane feel every rib as he takes a breath. Black scaled hands reach for him - for the rope.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:16 AM

He tries to fight this time, to struggle away, but the tail wrapped tight around him constricts to the point of pain and goes still. Seemingly satisfied, the naga(s?) reach for him and untie the ropes, before quickly pulling his arms behind his back. A more secure position, and one that ensures his hands remain trapped and useless. The two heads hiss back and forth, and one runs a finger along his shoulders and spine. He tries not to cry.

Dirk admires the human as Hal ties it up in a better position for safekeeping. Its so very warm, he'll enjoy curling around it as they sleep tonight.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:18 AM

(question - are we using koa's design where it's two separate torsos, or just one torso with two heads)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:18 AM

(I mentioned four arms, to Koa Design)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:19 AM

(ah, right, ok)

"What would be do without you, Dave?" Dirk murmurs. Truly. 

The younger naga just grins a slightly bloody smile up at them, carefully stripping the pelt from the flesh, and removing the skull. It would be interesting to see what Hal came up with for this one. 

"Don't thank me yet," he says. "We're still gonna have to feed and water it for it to be of any use."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:26 AM

Hal hisses approvingly. "Yes. It's practically just bones and skin. Not enough meat for the three of us."

"You two don't need to eat for two, you know."

"Yes yes, you keep reminding us. We know Dave. It doesn't stop us from being hungry."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:31 AM

He gets a severed limb thrown at him for good measure. Dirk sniggers as his other half fumbles with it. 

He feels a jerk, and turns to see the human in their hold trying to crawl away, finally breaking out of its stupor and making high pitched noises, eyes locked on the meat. 

"We've still got some of those nuts you like to chew in my damn ear, right?" Dirk asks, looking up to their jar collection, just as Hal's opening up, who sends him dirty look.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:36 AM

"Yeah. Hold on." Hal puts down the meat and reaches up, pulling Dirk along with him, and grabs the jar full of pale nuts. He pops the lid and hands it over to his twin.

"Here. I'll try feeding it if you hold it in place."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 11:40 AM

(kk I couldn't stop thinking about the twins last night. I have a plan for mating season)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 11:43 AM

(hj god)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 11:43 AM

(naga males are incredibly territorial. They would see each other as competitors)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 11:44 AM

(that. Is a hell of a time for them..)

(so the solution is either Dave comes up with a way to physically seperate them as best he can, or they resort to Angry Jacking It)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 11:50 AM

(it's more like, they attack eachother Hal nearly dies because Dirk is the dominant one and Karkat yells at them until they stop.)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 11:51 AM

(this sounds like a recipe for doubleteaming the poor human)

(yknow. when they're not in a murderous mood)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 11:51 AM

(yep)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 11:55 AM

Their tale moves, twisting so the whimpering human is dragged forward. Hal reaches out and clutches at the human's head, claws scratching a bit at its temples. He hooks one behind the gag, and pulls it of. 

The human immediately tries to bite him, Hal whipping his fingers out of the way while Dirk tries to hold in his laughter.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 11:58 AM

"You have no idea how much I wish we were venomous. That would make this easier." Hal grumbles. Instead the loop of their tail curls tighter around the human. 

"no bitiiing." He hisses out his best approximation of human speech, "or wee break ssssssome of your ribssss"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 12:13 PM

Karkat knows he's a dead man. Know it like he knows the sun will rise, and honestly...it's freeing? AS soon as he understands that his life is shit, has always been shit, and now with almost total certainty will end in..well..uh..something he's still not going to contemplate even on assiduity of death, he feels like he can do anything! How wonderful! 

Of course, biting at the beast's hands..probably wasn't a good idea now matter how fast his hysterical brain is running at the moment. 

That clawed hand rips away, sure, and it grumbles to the..other..one? (Kaarkat's starting to suspect something abotu this setup, but in the dark he can't see well enough to confirm anything.) Then the tail about him is tightening, and he wheezes, suddenly dizzy. A black hand grips his jaw, holding his eyes on the glowing redd and amber as it...speaks. 

"...fine," Karkat huffs out, feeling like being trapped in stone. "Just..urh-! Please make it fast.."

He's not going to try begging out of this. Why waste whatever dignity he's got left?

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 12:20 PM

He's not expecting the other half of the creature to carefully place something on his tongue. Hesitant, he bites down on it.

It's a macadamia nut.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 12:21 PM

Amber Eyes tips it's had to the side. A universal sign of amusement, tongue flickering in and out. "That wasss fasttt? Yeees?"

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 12:26 PM

He whimpers quietly as he swallows the nut. He doesn't understand. Is there a reason these things are feeding him?

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 12:33 PM

DAve must finish up whatever he's doing, and crawls back into the tree. In a net, hes got the pieces of jaguar. In the dark, Karkat can see the white of his scales better, reflecting the small moonlight and glowing insect lamps. There's dark spatters about his mouth, and something warm smears on his shoulder when a hard, clawed hand grasps it. Karkat tries not to choke on the nuts in his mouth - though, that's an option he might consider soon. 

"I can take this if you need me to," Dave tells the twins, adding another loop to the nest surrounding the human.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 12:49 PM

"sure, I'm fucking starving." Dirk hands his jar to Dave, and pulls Hal over to the Jaguar carcass. They immediately start to tear into it, and Dave approaches the human.

"Donn't beeeee sssssscared. We woonn't hurt yooouuu"

(you're showing up as offline btw)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 12:55 PM

(oh, oops)

Karkat cant tear his eyes away for a few long seconds as the hunks of cat are shredded and consumed, like they raw meat was nothing. 

It's almost a relief to hear the creepy hissing and have something else to focus on then a clear picture of his own demise. "F-fat fuckin chance. Wh-what the fuck -why are you doing thismfh-!" 

The Pale One has shoved another nut into his mouth, and bodily turned Karkat away from the carnage. The nut tastes of warm copper still.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:02 PM

He tries not to gag as he chews and swallows. The villagers had been starving him, and even this piddly amount of food is appreciated by his frazzled body.

Dave snaps at his brothers. "Slow down before you make yourselves sick. There's plenty."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:10 PM

He gets a deep,rattling growl in response, and doesn't push it. He had his fill while on the forest floor when Hal and Dirk were faffing about with the human - it will be enough for a week, at least. 

Looking over the human, Dave wonders if he's suddenly going to have double duty - Hal and Dirk can manage foraging easily enough, and sometimes manage to snatch unwitting birds and possums and squirrels who are dumb enough to venture close to their little grove of trees, but Dave's just brought one more mouth to feed down on himself..and the rainy season's coming..

He sighs deeply and pops a nut into his own mouth. This might be a air bit of trouble..

"Do hu-men have..ussm...namess?" Call you?" he asks, waving a hand about, but curious. He's..never really spoken to anyone aside from his brothers, a hatchling when the three of them and their father were driven away from naga territory, over the mountains. They tried going back, once. 

Once.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:15 PM

Dirk and Hal have twin scars around their throats thanks to that disastrous escapade. They'll never go back.

The human swallows and shakes in his grip. It's cute, how terrified it is. "K-Karkat. My name is Karkat."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:27 PM

Dave nods. "Kri- Kakrak- um.." He attempts to pronounce the name, the consonants catching in his throat. 

{"You sound like twigs snapping,"} he grumbles, and looks down. Last one in the jar. Damn.. He looks down at the human, and offers it in his open palm. He loosens a coil, around the human's arms. 

"I'm-" he says his name, and waits to see if humans are in any better boat then he is with theirs.

(it occurs to me that the three naga really are just. feral children)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:28 PM

(they are lmao)

"...Dayve? Or, uh, Dave?" The human tries. Close enough. It leans down and eats the nut out of his hand.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:36 PM

Dave. That's how they say it? Hm..interesting. 

The naga blinks when the human leans down and takes the food in such a way. Dave is suddenly aware of how warm the thing is in his hold, though those useless cloth coverings. How soft its skin was. Dave's attention is drawn up as the human's eyes rove over him, and focuses on the mop of black, fluffy hair. Without thinking, Dave reaches out, and snags a lock. 

It's soft too. 

The noise to the side has stopped, and Dave jerks back when he realized he was being scrutinized by his brothers. Hal was licking blood off his claws with a raised eyebrow and Dirk was eyeing the human who was muttering something to himself.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:46 PM

"Don't get attached little brother." Hal says, licking his last claw. "It's just meat, no matter how much it looks like us." 

The human whines quietly, and Dave realizes he's squeezing it too tight. He loosens the coil of his tail slightly. "Ssssorry..."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:48 PM

(O NO, NOT FEELINGS)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:50 PM

(Dave is soft snek, secretly noodle puppy. Besides I have a reason that they won't have to kill him)

(those men who strung him up did say they'd be back for the rope afterall. Three fat pigs are much better than one small bird)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:56 PM

(Good thinking. also, Hal and Dirk will grow to like having someone else to talk to during the day)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:56 PM

(aye. Plus solidarity of outcasts)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:05 PM

Karkat's panic spikes as he's nearly crushed again, and watches that clawed hand closely. "This is weird, this is so weIRD-!" He holds back a yelp as it brushes over his head, feeling his..hair? 

When it pulls back looking - bashful? Of all things? And untenses its muscles, actually appologizing, he can't help but groan. "It's..I mean, it's not fine, none of this is fine, what am I even saying? 'Oh no, it's totally cool and alright to be felt up by giant snake monsters in the middle of the night after almost being eaten by a jaguar AFTER being left for dead by my people who don't see me as a person anyway.' Yeah, no, this is the worst thing that's happened to me all day - being man handled and pet - whoa-!" 

The tail turns, and Karkat's suddenly being brought away from the edge, and into a messier nest of tail, dark and light. 

Red Eyes glares at him over his twin's shoulder. "Talksss to much.. Sleeeep never.." It leans over, and plucks the gag back up.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:10 PM

"nononononono wait I can be quiet! Don't gag me again please!" 

Dave hisses quietly. "Give it a bit Hal, the human is probably disoriented and frightened. If we need to shut it up I can choke it until it sleeps."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:18 PM

Hal hums and pulls Dirk away, further into the nest they were making of themselves. Dirk only complaining about losing the warm human once or twice before giving in and settling down. Dave is left with the gag, his knife, and the human still panting from the up and down spikes of anxiety. 

Dave doesn't join them tonight, and turns back to Karkat. He's kneeling now, the other two pulling away meaning Dave's only got a coil around his upper body. He sees movement, and notices how swollen the human's wrists and ankles are.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:24 PM

"Doessss that... The ropessss... Hurt? You?" 

Karkat looks up. There are tears in its eyes. It nods, miserable. Dave slithers closer.

"Laay downnn"

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:36 PM

(my cat is screaming at me)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:37 PM

(why)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:37 PM

(want toy)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:37 PM

(mother, I crave Violence)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:41 PM

(basically)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:41 PM

Well. There's not much he can do, is there? Karkat is tired, and his stomach turns whenever he catches sight of the bones, or scent of the blood. Maybe if he closes his eyes this will all just be some..horrible nightmare. 

He shifts his legs, and lays back as much as he can, now that the beast is giving him the room. 

He sees light glint off the black knife, and the coil is constricting him hard enough he can't breath to scream.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:45 PM

Dave quickly cuts the ropes on the human's wrists then its ankles. Then, to make sure it doesn't try anything, he loops himself around it a few more times. The human is now nestled safely into his tail. 

"There we go." He murmurs, and lays himself down. He's heavy enough their little bird won't be able to fly away.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:58 PM

The night moves on around Karkat. As close as he's being held, he can feel the breath in the massive body he's surrounded by. The beating of two hearts. His own is still pounding away in his chest at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation he'd somehow found himself in. not just at this very moment, but of the entire night. 

Hes not dead. His arms and wrists still hurt, throbbing a little, but they'll be fine soon. The cuts left by claws on his face sting a little, but it's lost under the sheer lightheadedness of knowing he's not like the jaguar. When, very easily, he could have been. 

They want him alive. The demons his people make sacrifices to want him alive...for some reason. 

He's still wide awake, until he's not.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 3:45 PM

He only becomes aware again when sunlight hits his face and he hears shouting. Loud, approving voices that sound startlingly familiar. He tries to sit up but the weight of the tail around and on top of him keep him in place. He groans, and it rouses Dave.

"What is that racket?"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 4:24 PM

Karkat looks about, and sees the other two from the night before sitting up, still as a board and listening in the direction out of the little glen. 

In the broad daylight, morning sunfiltering in through the canopy, Karkat is finally able to see all of his..rescuers? They're..a bit larger then him and Dave. The one on the right, Red Eyes, is covered in black scales from, up his back, on his arms and hands. Patterns of red and amber trace down his form in blotches. The other is..just like him, but in black and amber. Karkat looks down, and sees what wasn't visible last night. Conjoined. The patterns clash at the waist, where the body bulges oddly as two..hips? Meet, into one long tail. 

Voices in the distance rise again, and it takes Karkat a moment to understand them.

"Oh god.." he breathes, as Dave stiffens as well, attention drawn to the sounds. Ears pricked in interest.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 4:27 PM

Below them, three men, the men who tied him to the tree last night, argue back and forth.

"-must've got away, no blood-"

"Little rat, should've slit his throat-"

"We should track him down an' kill 'im"

Karkat goes stiff. Dave looks at him.

"who? Issss they?"

"They're the ones who put me in the tree..."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 6:50 PM

(yo!)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 6:52 PM

(too)

(yo*)

The twins look to each other, a glint in their eye, and then turn to Dave.

Aside, Karakt finds he too can't..help but look at the..the snakeman. (He needs to find out what they're called, so he can tell someone about this. I'd he evwr gets out of here..) Dave is. Bright. In the dark of last night, Karkat hadn't been able to see properly. But I. The light of the morning, it becomes clear, the scales each like carven marble. There's almost a pinkish hue to them, rosey. His eyes are..different from Red Eyes as well. They're..clearer. like they're not acrsully meant to be that color. 

Pretty.. the word slithers through his head. 

Until Dave is moving, turning to gather up his belt and pass the coils holding Karakt off to the twins. 

"W-what are you doing?" Karkat asks, tentative.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 7:02 PM

The Pale snake looks over his shoulder, and grins, exposing his needle sharp teeth. As he does, he straps his knife to his belt.

"Hunting."

"What do you-" Karkat isnt able to finish his sentence because the red eyed twin hauls him away, and Dave dives out of the nest. The other twin hisses in his ear.

"Youuu brought three pigssss. Sssquealing pigsss ripe for sssslaughter. Much better than one bony liiiittle birrrd"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 9:24 PM

(I'm thinking of all the ways this plot could go)

(someone from the village acrsully getting the drop on the striders and Karakt having to decide if he wants to stay with monsters or go back to humanity that doesn't want him)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 9:25 PM

(yesssss)

(I have... Sad Dirk&Hal thoughts)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 9:27 PM

(:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: )

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 9:29 PM

(Dirk wants to Die, but Hal wants to live. They're Trapped in this situation neither one could control and it takes its toll on them. Especially since, all three of them being born together (conjoined twins and an albino) is an unspeakably terrible omen)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 9:34 PM

(hhh Dirk and Hal are symbols of devision, new power, and schism. Dave is just a death omen. Not Good.)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 9:40 PM

(no wonder they were pushed out. Bro was probably only forced to take care of them because it's even worse to let an omen carrier die before adulthood)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 9:45 PM

(You know what, that valley they're in is probably being used like a giant cage for the boys)

(to keep them where they can be watched)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 9:47 PM

(yeah. Observed. Sometimes they herd food towards them)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 9:50 PM

(they observed Hal and Dirk fighting each other during mating season, and indeed..a bad egg season followed. Few clutches and fewer viable eggs..)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 9:54 PM

(they worry what will happen when the time comes for Dave to fulfill his profecy

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 9:57 PM

(wouldnt it just burn if saving Karkat started a butterfly effect of either nagas or humans finding peaceful ground)

(or the nagas being discovered by humans)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 9:58 PM

(a war perhaps)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 9:59 PM

(I just. I'm gonna touch on it in my reply when I get home, but they boys aren't ok lol)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/08/2020

Something roils in Karkats gut at the words. Pigs for slaughter. Boney bird. 

That's what he was now, wasn't he? That's why they were feeding him last night. 

Oh gods- 

But. 

Karkat feels the burns from the rope, still. His back is still bruised and their words ring in his ears as they dragged him from the tiny hovel hed been allowed to stay in. How they hurt him.

Maybe. Maybe he'll..just sit quietly for a bit. There's an odd tension in his middle, pulling him this way and that. A little knife against three men? A giant snake monster against mere human strength? 

He watches the mighty white coils slide down, skin-crawoing how the muscles underneath moved, watching the ribs under the skin- 

That brings Karakt up short. Ribs?

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/08/2020

He squints, and yes, he can faintly see the ribs all along Dave's tail. He looks back at the twins. They have no such issues. Their tail is long and smooth, though it's scales are dull and crackle slightly. He shuts his eyes when he hears the first panicked scream.

"Aw, it's a sensitive little bird, isn't it?"

"stop it Hal, the poor thing is terrified as it is. Let's not subject it to the slaughter of its kind."

Warm, dry arms pull Karkat in, and another set of hands cover his ears. They're... Shielding him from it?

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/08/2020

(Dave's been giving more to them bc they're about to shed I take it?)

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/08/2020

(ye)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/08/2020

Karkat glances back, and sees calm Amber Eyes watching him with a neutral expression, while Red Eyes looks on, ears pricking every time there's no doubt a scream. 

He lets himself be pulled in, a little limp with the situation. He feels like it's washing over him, like warm waters. Or. Maybe that's more tail. Fuck, who even needed rope when your whole body was better a restraint then anything else in the world. 

He tries not to take comfort from the hold. 

-

Cronus spits onto the ground, at the mangled length of rope dangling from the tree. It wasn't shredded - it was cut. 

"Well we checked him!" Whined one of the others. "No weapons that we saw when we strung him up."

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/08/2020

"Doesn't matter, he must've had one. Which means our little Rat is back on the loose. Fan out, first man who finds 'im decides what we do with 'im."

The other two men chuckle darkly. They all know what they'll do with the gutter filth when they find him. Cronus especially can't wait to make the boy squeal. 

They spread out, and everything seems perfectly normal. Then one of the men screams.

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/08/2020

(sunny has corrupted me because I was definitely implying they were gonna assault him)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/08/2020

Cronus whips about, hand going to his dagger, and runs back in the direction of the yelling. He comes to the tree, and beyond that. The forest is dense around him and growing hot even in the early daylight. The branches claw at his pristine white shirt, and his shoes are no doubt caked with mud by now. Fuck, he hates it out here. 

"Laorha?" He calls out, waiting for an answer. After the initial screech, there was nothing. In fact, the longer he listens, the quieter it seems to get. Birdsong has stopped in the wake of the noise, and he doesn't so much as see a leaf rustle from bird or beast. He keeps walking. Large swaths of the underbrush has been damaged, crushed, along..odd..trails. 

Something is shifting, then, ahead of him, and he wonders if the idiot just fell in a hole. Cronus sets his jaw and hacks away at some thick bushes until he's through.

(lol, it's fine - sometimes it just Fits the plot)

also sunny has corrupted me too sjfhajfsdhg

(also, unfortunatly, Cronus survives umu)

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/08/2020

He manages to force his way into a clearing and

Freezes.

There's something there. Huge and white, and swallowing the unfortunate man whole. A snake? No. It raises up, pushing the last few inches of its prey into its mouth with long, slender hands. The torso of a man and the tail of a snake. 

A demon.

(Yes I did vaguely describe Dave swallowing a man alive die mad about it)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/08/2020

(the only person dying mad here is the dude dave just vored)

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/08/2020

(he hungy)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/08/2020

(and now slow because he just ate lmao, poor timing dave)

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/08/2020

(listen a guy tries to punch you and your instincts take over. What're you gonna do?)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/08/2020

(Dave: I DO NOT CONTROL THE EAT-PEOPLE INSTINCT)

Cronus stands in shock as the creature convulses, mass moving down and finally shuddering out a gasp - could it not breath? The thing coughs, a thin trail of saliva stringing from its gaping mouth to its hands as the pink tongue flashes in and out. It takes three more wheezing breaths before Cronus's fool head seems to understand what's just happened and 

"RHORCK, HERE! NOW!!" He bellows int the woods, and when the demons jerks out of its stupor, it's met with silver steel coming hard at it's face.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 12:01 AM

It ducks and hisses, exposing Fangs still dripping with blood and viscera. It backs up, towards the trees, but he won't let it get away.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 12:02 AM

('fangs' have you ever seen videos off people being mildly annoyed when their ball pythons try to eat their hands? it's adorable)

(less adorable, of course, when that ball python is twenty feet long and the size of a dude,,)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 12:05 AM

(Cronus has never seen a naga, can you blame the idiot)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 12:12 AM

Cronus lets out a yell, showing his own teeth as he readies himself again, and leaps forward. He dances about the thing, tracking him with hellish, red-rimmed ruby eyes. The edges of it's lips where they pull back are bloody, and when it opens its mouth to spit more sounds at him he can see the blackness inside it's maw. 

Cronus get between it and the trees it was aiming for, reaching into his boot to pull out his smaller hand knife. The thing keeps him in its withering sights, lower body coiling - STRIKE 

Claws rake into Cronus's shirt and skin as he ducks under the attack, and stabs upwards towards that soft, creamy belly. It thrashes as it sees him, winding sideways with a...sudden look on its face Cronus relishes when he realizes is terror.

Rhorck comes bumbling through the bushes just in time to get a wayward coil shoved into his middle, throwing him back several feet.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 12:34 AM

The snake hisses another threat, rearing up to make itself look bigger. In one hand if holds a sharp, dark blade. It squints at Cronus, as if readying an attack, and then suddenly lunges towards Rhorck. The fool didn't stand a chance. It's dark blade slashes across his throat and he slumps down into the grass, dead as a doornail. The Pale Snake turns it's eyes on him.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 12:44 AM

They're at a standoff. The demon knows Cronus is very nearly a match for it, and it sways in the air, watching him. If he looks closely, he can see it keep readjusting its grip on the hilt of its own dagger. It pants. 

But it's still reared, though Cronus doesn't know what keeps it here. Bloodlust? Rage? Across its body is littered like a used cutting board with scars, pink and white and shiny with scar tissue. He knows the stories well enough - demons and beings of living rock and vine - there wasn't a snake tolerated t live in the village because of it, agents of evil they were. Children could get themselves a nice little treat for bringing one in dead. 

Imagine bringing in this Pale Snake's head. 

Cronus smiles, and flips his small knife around, aiming.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 12:49 AM

The Pale Snakes eyes go wide, and just as suddenly as it appeared, it's gone, just a crash in the underbrush and a smear of blood as it drags Rhorck's corpse with it.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:03 AM

Cronus's knife embeds itself into the wood where the things head was mere moments before, splinters dancing off into the sunbeams of a growing morning. The woods is still silent. 

He strides over when it's clear the demon means not to return, and works it free. Boots slip, and he eyes the ground, the dakr blood mixing with disturbed loam. A trail of broken undergrowth and soil leads off into utterly unknown territory. 

Cronus turns a starts making his way back, with a story, wounds to match, a a call for some more men.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:10 AM

Dave is distinctly regretting eating that human whole. He wouldn't normally, but the bastard had gotten careless and put its fingers where they didn't belong. Now he can feel it weakly squirming in his stomach as he scales their home tree. When he makes it to the nest, he sees Hal and Dirk holding Karkat, keeping their eyes and ears closed.

"Here." He tosses the body into a loop of their tail. "One got away, and The other is currently giving me a stomach ache. Feel free to finish this one. And give me him, I'll make sure he doesn't see."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:21 AM

Hal digs claw into the corpse and drags it over to where the cleaned bones of the jaguar lay. "Man, Dave, what'd you do, try to fillet it?" He holds out his hand for the black stone knife. 

Dirk is a little less..forward about it, and shifts his hold on Karkat so one hand it covering the human's disconcerted face. With the other, he leans down and grabs up the old gag, untying it and slipping it over the human's eyes. "All yours," he murmurs as he hands the thing back over. He watches Dave tense and rub at his middle, tail lashing a bit. "..Need something to settle things?" 

Some herbs and a good nap with the warm human would likely help. Dirk begins to reach up into their jar collection ,and winces. He hopes Dave didn't see. The skin about his arms and shoulders is tight.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:27 AM

Dave curls himself around the human and watches as Dirk grabs for a jar. he falters, and Dave's eyes narrow. He knows his brother's are molting, its why he's been indulging their appetites. Still. It always makes him nervous. Dirk hands him a small bundle of leaves, which he gratefully pops into his mouth and chews. He swallows, then scoops up the blindfolded human. "I'm going to sleep in the branches. Wake me before the sun goes down"

(definetly gonna include Karkat getting freaked out/mildly aroused at the thought of Dave swallowing him btw)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:30 AM

(yyyyyyyee)

(also, and now for a naga's favorite pasttime! Sleeping 14 Hours A Day)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:31 AM

(Yep, with bonus Space heater human)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:31 AM

(they're basically long cat)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:32 AM

(Loooooooooooong cat)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:32 AM

(remember long cat cass)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:33 AM

(Ye)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 1:41 AM

Hal makes a noise of acknowledgement, and carefully begins his work. Dirk watches Dave scale for a moment, before assisting is twin. After last night the work wasn't near so rushed. 

Karkat was starting to feel a bit like an overused party favor at this point. One tail to another, from hand to hand to hand. He'd gasped at the blindfold, but by now, he'd learned to wait and see if his panic was truly warranted. (A not insignificant part of him reminded him he was STUCK IN A TREE WITH SNAKE DEMONS WHO, JUDGING BY THE VOICES OF THE MEN WHO LEFT HIM FOLLOWED BY A SCREAM AND NOW THE SCENT OF MORE BLOOD AND CERTAIN SOUNDS, ATE PEOPLE.) As he was taken up by Dave though, he realized the sounds and scent was slipping away - just like them. 

They were climbing. 

There was a slight breeze, and it played with Karkat's hair. Under him, he could feel the sway of branches and rustle of leaves. The birdcall was finally coming back. Dave seemed to reach a point he wanted, and started to coil, tucking Karkat neatly into them. 

"You caaan..ssleeep againnn..ssoryyy to wake. Early." The creature mumbled, and Karkat..supposed..it was nic-

something rippled against the skin under Karkat's back.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 1:49 AM

He makes a startled noise and tries to squirm away. it was so much worse with the blindfold on, he has no idea what that was (he has some idea, but he's praying he's not right) 

"What was that!?" Karkat's voice pitches up in panic, and he's about to try to squirm away again when-

The blindfold comes off, and he's blinking in the dappled sunlight, momentarily dazed. He can hear Dave hissing gently, what's probably supposed to be a soothing sound. "sssss'okay. Not gonnnna hurt, you. sss'prey."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:02 AM   
"Those - I think are two very contradictory statements, asshole," Karkat says, voice distant. The blindfold falls off his shoulders, and looking down, down..do w n-

Karkat whips his head back up, virtigo so not what's conductive to this situation. He actually finds himself scooting closer into the clutch of Dave's body. And the. The. 

Ok. 

Ok, it's. It's prey. Karkat will take that. Dave is still making that noise, but it's..getting quieter, a buzz in Karkat's ear as he slowly..leans back in. 

The creature is warm. Sunlight on pearly scales,m aking a perfect little circle of himself with Karkat in the middle. A hand reaches out, and brings Karkat to his side like a stuffed child's toy, tucking him in good. Thre's no way the human can leave. 

He can't feel..movement..anymore..but the tail shifts and moves over him, under him, keeping him still and pressed into Dave. His ear is on the beast's chest, and he can hear his heart slowly hammering away.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:07 AM

The fact that he is cuddling with a carnivorous monster is not lost on him, but after months of abuse and thrown things as his only form of contact, its, nice. From this angle he can see the way that Dave's stomach is bulging ever so slightly. He reaches out, laying a palm across the snake's belly. Perhaps it's morbid curiosity that makes him wonder what it would be like to be inside there. After all, it's probably going to be where he ends up.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:21 AM

It's warm, warmer then the rest of the beast - Karkat idly wonders if Dave's kind, since there's apparently more then one of them, have a name for themselves. 

How would they do it? Would they be..kind? Red-and-Amber-Eyes certainly seem to have a preference, and Karkat hopes with a sick feeling he never feels it. Would it be quick? Would Dave hold him close like he's doing now for it, making that stupid, soft hissing noise that's almost a purr as he breaks Karkat's poor little body? 

Or would he keep the human alive. Are Karkat's last moments of this world going to be darkness and crushing clutch and heat? 

The human shakes himself a little. Gods..

(also, this is my exit! bedtimes :> )

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:21 AM

(yeye, sleep well!)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:21 AM

(nigt)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 4:22 AM

(I think Dirk and Hal might start shedding that night)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 4:59 AM

(also if and/or when this is a possibility, Karkat would be a Coral snake naga)

(funny enough, Coral snakes have black, orange, and red scales)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 12:15 PM

He lays there for a long time, watching the creature next to him sleep, and digest. At some point, he falls asleep as well.

They're both awoken by a groan of pain. Dave is instantly aware, holding Karkat tight as his head whips around, looking for the source of the sound.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 12:23 PM

It's later in the day, the sun high and getting maybe too warm to be in fully for much longer, Dave only coing aware of it as he wakes. Time for some shade. 

Or, judging by looking down onto the twin's platform, something a little wetter. 

The pair is curled tightly into themselves, but not in rest. Their shoulders tense with every breath, and as Hal turns his head, Dave can see the white-blue sheen that's finally starting to form over their eyes. Along Dirk's back, small cracks had started to form and bleed. Fuck. 

"We neeeed to ggo," Dave tells the human, and beings crawling down the tree again. He himself is feeling much better, warm and full and ready to move on from the disaster of a morning. And get this properly under way. 

He loops Karkat in a few coils as he slides onto the platform and gets in close to his brother's faces. {"Should have gone to the river yesterday like I said - but no, you always wait until fucking blue to do this."}

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 12:30 PM

{"We thought it wouldn't happen today-! Ow, fuck!"} Hal cringes as Dirk twists, and a painful sounding crackle emits from their skin. Karkat looks over them, wary.

"What's happening to them?" He watches Dave carefully take one of the brothers and haul him up over his shoulders.

"Sssssskinn. moltiiiing. Riverrr, Help mee caaarry"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 12:44 PM

Karkat doesn't really have a choice in the matter as, wincing and opening more sores in their skin, the trio works their way down to the forest floor, Karkat being dragged along. It's a less then elegant flump as one would expect of a sick snake half-falling out of a tree, and as soon as they hit the ground Dave is at Hal's side, looking to Karkat. 

He's unbound. Ungagged, unblinded. 

Karkat realizes, he could. Run. What can Dave do? The twins need him. Karkat isn't sure he's faster then Dave, but knows the demon will have his attentions split.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 12:53 PM

"Pleeaaassssee. Help. Don't runn" Dave says. He seems sincere. h=His eyes are full of concern for his brothers. And the conjoined snakes do look pretty awful.

Curse his Kind heart. He helps lift the twins' tail.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 5:27 PM

They begin trekking. It's not easy, though the twins do try their best to help. Karkat feels he's at least owed his grumbling about how heavy the tail is, and how he keeps almost losing geio of it. He tries not to be too loud though, as after the third time, Red Eyes looks over his shoulder, twisting in a way to cause his twin to yelp again to glare at Karkat. 

Eventually, the ground under their feet grows thicker with plants and damper. In the distance, Karkat can hear a full roar. Waterfalls? The twins get a little more lively.

(yes, karkat will learn their names soon! Lmao)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 5:29 PM

{"Almost there, stop squirming."} Dave stops, and Karkat can see the green strip of the river. He lays the twins down on the bank.

"Put themmm downn"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 5:35 PM

"Gladly," Karkat gripes, though his touch on the rough, dry form is gentler then his tone, setting them down. 

Dirk and Hal make right for the water, thought oddly enough, Karkat watches as they don't dip directly into it. Instead, they start patting about, crawling forward towards some large, damp but sunny rocks, the mist from the warm water making karkat already sweat. The ways they move, it's like,- 

"Holy shit, are they blind right now?" Karkat asks, watching the incremental, ceraful movement of the doublette.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 5:44 PM

"Yessss. Shhhheddiiinng. No sssssseeee" Dave moves closer and puts a hand on one of the twins shoulders {"this way. You're almost there"}

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 5:52 PM

Karkat watches the trio crawl and slither along. It's. 

Ok, so. Karkat never saw the point in killing snakes. Yes, he knew (well..knew then, though just maybe he's starting to reconsider some things he's been told) that they were dangerous spirits. Kill them when you see them. But. It was a small pleasure of his, but ofttimes he'd watch a little grass snake hurry along and admire the way it's scales fit together, perfectly. Or the single time when hed been allowed to assist in tending the graneries, he'd seen a ratter snatch up a pest and make quick work of it, moving like lightning. Snakes..were interesting. 

He can step back now, and come to admire, even if it was still with a healthy sense of terror, at the beings before him.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 5:57 PM

The powerful movements of their tails, and their strange, beautiful way of moving. He always sort of thought that the slithers were nice to watch. When he was a child he had been quietly distraught whenever he saw a playmate bash ones head in with a rock.

The twins reach the water, and all at once tumble in. There is a loud splash. Dave moves away, hissing that pleased sound again. 

"They will beee there for a whiiile. Sssssit?"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 6:03 PM

Karkat watches the loud, graceless fall and for the first time since this whole ordeal began, finds himself almost smiling. 

At Dave's request, he picks his way over without thought and seats himself on the cool rock. Wow. Nice. 

"..so, how long does this usually take? Are they..gonna be ok?"

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 6:07 PM

"Willll beee fiiiinnee. Happensssss oncssee a ssseeeasson." Daves tail slaps over his legs, soaking his pants. He looks at Karkat, face open and inquisitive. "Like Humannsss? You sssshed?"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 6:13 PM

Karkat looks down at the shining tail, and scowls..though thrres no heat in the gesture. Fuck, the day is hot enough without it. He instead shoves then mass of muscle off of him (and only belatedly hopes he doesn't damage the ribs he can still see.) 

"Get off, you over-grown wet sock." 

He picks at his wet pants. "It's not skin, it's clothing. Cloth. And uh. No, we don't shed. No scales." He holds up his hands for Dave to see properly.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 6:16 PM

Dave very suddenly grabs his left hand and pulls it close, examining it carefully. He's probably never seen human skin up close. Then he licks it and Karkat makes an undignified shriek and pulls it away. Dave stares at him.

"You ssssmell niccce"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 6:17 PM

(LIC)

(also, gonna archive tonight bc THIS GETTIN POSTED)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 6:24 PM

(EXCELLENT)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 6:25 PM

"Th-thank? I think?" Karkat stutters, having caught sight of those needleteeth. And not because the fast, small.movement of the pink tongue across his fingers has tickled something awful. If..well. It was. Probably just common sense not to let whatever the hell Dave get their mouths near you. Yep. 

Karkat rubs at his hand. It..felt funny to be touched this way...Nicely. Curiously. 

Go figure hed find that from a demon in the woods. Karkats eyes drift down, and land upon the tail, which had come in to form a long circle about the two of them, hemming him in like a foot tall marble wall. 

Slowly, Karkat leans over and lays a hand on Dave. Still warm. 

"So..youve always been here?"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)

started a call that lasted a few seconds.

Yesterday at 6:25 PM

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 6:25 PM

Oops

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 6:27 PM

He shakes his head.

"Not Alwaysssss. But a verry lonnng tiiimmme. Jusssst ussss. Hal annd Dirk and mee"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 6:31 PM

(ok, going back!)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 6:32 PM

(KK!)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 8:08 PM

The way he pronounces their names, "Hhhayle, Drrreirk," is funny. Not that Karkats laughing of course. He supposed his own name was pretty oddball to the..the..

"So uh. Of I'm a human, then..what um. What should..I call you? Do you like. Have other people like you?"

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 8:38 PM

He nods.

"Weee areee Naga. But- not welcome, withh the otherssss"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 10:57 PM

Karkat blinks. 

So, there were others. But.. He looks over to Dirk and Hal. He...supposed that made an amount of sense. The awkward way their body moved, like it was an uneven split of control across it, and required constant compromise to so much as decide right or left. He looked to Dave again - so pale it was clearly not normal, from tail tip to eyelashes. 

He does his own digesting this information. Others..how many? Tens? Hundreds of - of naga? Snake men (and women, he presumed?) living somewhere out there. Maybe bigger then the three here, they hardly seemed older then Karkat himself. 

His eyes fall on a long, pink line down Dave's chest, then, that he hadn't noticed before. The way the light fell, he could see others, sure, over his mouth, littering his hands and body line a used cutting board..

but that one seemed out of place. 

He looks up, into Dave's waiting eyes. 

"People didn't like me much either." He snorts. "But you probably already figured that out."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 11:23 PM

"Thossse humannss. They sssaid they wanted to huuurt youuu. Whyy?"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 11:41 PM

Karkat's words catch in his throat. 

Fuck, how does he explain this one?

They hated my father for trying to fight the corruption in the village? For being an outsider with no family to speak of? For saving a friend when she was being attacked and they'd decided to string me up for fun? 

So many possibilities in his life. 

So he shrugs, slipping off his shoes and letting his feet rest in the warm water, watching various fish dart about. "I did something the people who make the rules didn't like. Feels like my whole damn life, they just finally had something real to pin on me."

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/10/2020

"But whyyyy take you to our treeee? They do not dooo that" Dave leans into him, looking in his eyes intently. "And whyyy commmee baaack?"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/10/2020

Karkat is, again, left unfooted. He squints at Dave for a moment, trying to decipher what the hell he meant. 

"Because..it was the more surefire way to see me to death in the cruelest way possible? And - and shit, if that cat hadn't found me first and you'd had to take care of it.." 

He can't hold the red gaze, letting the unsaid linger in the air. Suddenly the bulge still in Dave's middle isn't so ignorable anymore. 

"They came back because they were relatives of the people who make the rules. To make sure I was. Dead. At your hands. Or, at least, something's hands." He shakes his head. "Everyone knows there's demons in the woods. They weren't far off, 'parently."

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/10/2020

Dave hisses.

"Pigsssss. Wisssshh I had eaaaten the thirrd one." He leans into Karkat. "Iiif they wannted you deaad, they sssshhhould havvve killed you themsssselves."

How Comforting.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/10/2020

(hush karkat he's a good boi by snek standards)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/10/2020

Karkat supposes the unsaid there is that well, they didn't kill him themselves, and now he gets to hang out with three snake monsters in the woods until some designated date where, if Hal and Dave's gut were to be believed, Cronus and the others would have their mission finally carried out. 

He didn't want to think about this anymore. He was still tired from the patchy sleep, and leaned into the naga. Maybe..for now this was ok. He couldn't spare the energy getting worked up about his own impending grizzly demise every time a reminder of it entered his head anyway. 

Something growled. 

Something distinctly not a giant snake. Dave lifted his head, ears pricked as he looks down at Karkat curiously. The human wraps a hand about his middle and feels his face heat in a way that had nothing to do with the midday heat.

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/10/2020

Karkat curls in on himself, blushing furiously. There's no reason he should be this embarrased, and yet-

"Hungry?" The Naga inquires mildly.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/10/2020

"I-" He groans at the invasive, innocent look coming from something he's seen rip a fucking jaguar to shreds. Dave's not a goddamned puppy turning its head at whistling. "The..nuts last nigh were great..Um. If you could point me in the direction of like, the tree, or walk me there, or if there's more fruit around here, I could - uh." 

Karkat cuts himself off midsentence when the naga twists and moves, winding down off the rocks and into the water. It's gaze intent.

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/10/2020

He watches him as he goes very still. Watching. Waiting. And then suddenly he lunges, water splashes and startled birds shriek. Dave pulls a good sized fish out of the water. 

"Heeere you go. Fiiiiisssh." He drops the dead fish into karkats lap

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/10/2020

The sound Karkat let out as the alomy thing was dropped in his lap was every bit as undignified as his squirm backwards. He looks up with wide eyes at the naga, who's watching his reaction with curiosity...and not offense. Wow, Karkat, way to almost deffinitly insult anyone who wasn't a wild snake man beast who could only barely speak his language. 

"..Yep. Thanks." He manages, and Dave looks placated at least. The fish wiggles weakly, cold on his legs and Karakt surpresses a shudder.

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/10/2020

Dave cocks his head when Karkat doesn't immediately start to eat. Does the human not know how to eat a fish? That's alright, Dave can teach him. He pick up the fish again and slashes one of his claws down the things belly, pulling out the organs. He isn't hungry, so Karkat can have the best bits. He scoops out some of the eggs and offers them again.

"Fisssshhh. Eat. Tastes good."

(coughs quietly this Karkat is a vegetarian)

(snek boy wasn't paying attention lol)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/10/2020

(I like vegan Karkat better lol)

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/10/2020

(he can be vegan lol. That'll be an adjustment. Can't be vegan if you live in the woods bud)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/10/2020

Karkat. Really tries to control his reaction when Dave...butchers the animal. Eight there. 

He closes his eyes at the offered...stuff. 

"Uh..you can have that. Since you seem to like it. Thanks." 

Fuck fuck fuck what can he do. Of course he should have just asked if there was groves or what have you around here, rather then leave collecting food to the giant gods damned carnivore. 

Karkat stands, and gingerly takes the fish back with his fingertips. "I...lookz you might not understand this,being what you are, I guess, but. I wont-er. I can't eat fish."

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/10/2020

Dave blinks.

"Can't? Why? It good fissshh"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/10/2020

"I know." Trust him, just because he's stuck to certain dietary restrictions for most of his life, doesnt mean his stomach is any less interested, and he's aware of how he's basically spitting in his...for-now savior's face. 

He looks down at the thing, pink flesh dripping red down his hands, the tiny orbs of eggs still there inside. 

He's seen it eaten raw. It's possible. Karkat swallows hard as Dave keeps watching him.

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/10/2020

Dave still seems confused, and he looks down, thinking. Humans definitely are fish, he saw them catching them on the banks. They even are them raw. He can't figure out why Karkat is so hesitant. Then he remembers that the fishing humans almost always threw the fish guts back into the river. He hisses quietly, then gently scoops the organs out of Karkats hands and puts the fish carcass in them instead. He looks very proud of himself for figuring it out.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/10/2020

Fuck his life. 

Actually no, his life was already fucked, this was just a newest event shining gloriously in the crown of blindingly shit things in his sorry excuse of a life. 

Dave looks cute when he smiles (with his mouth closed.) 

"..." 

Karkat looks down at the gutted, cleaned fish. All for him. 

He brings it up to his mouth, slow enough he's sure the world will end before it gets there..and opens his mouth.

Hhho Gods why is fish so slim e y..

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/10/2020

Karkat vitae into the fish and Dave wiggles in excitement. They like it! He did good! 

Karkat feels like he's going to throw up, but he can't offend Dave. Otherwise he might become the meal instead.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/10/2020

Watching a giant snake monster Dona little happy dance at having accepted it's gift is...probably not the weirdest thing Karkats ever seen, but the day was still young. It did something weird to Karkats middle, watching it though. Judging by his body, littered with the strife of simply living where he did, Dave probably didn't have many opotunities for such a reaction. 

Join the club..

The fish is cold, and...well. Honestly, didn't actually taste like much. A little salty, maybe. Karakt fought down the mouthful and forced the edges of his mouth up. For Dave. 

Wiping at his mouth, "So, you're a pretty good hunter. You uh, learn that or is this just something you know all on your own?"

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/10/2020

Dave tilts his head, and sits back down next to Karkat.

"Learnn. From myy-" He says a word Karkat doesn't understand. "Heeeee taughht howww to hhhhunt. Fooorrr Dirk and Hal. Wasssss alll he evvver taughht"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/10/2020

Karkat's not ready for the bitterness that coats the last words. Dave practically spits them out, staring into the water. 

There's a sudden, aching familiarity in the human's chest. Of someone gone before they should have, either by accident, or worse, by choice, and all that implied. There are words suddenly gathering at the back of his mouth, and rather then indulge them, to spit and howl like a beast, like Dave, Karkat swallows them back like the wet, cold fish. 

"So, Hal and Dirk can't hunt for themselves? You'd think two heads are better then one." Though, already, thinking on it, he can see the logistical troubles. Their body didn't move nearly as gracefully as Dave's, something wrong with who was pulling what, maybe.

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/10/2020

The Naga shakes his head and looks at the water. There are small, translucent patches in the water. Shed snake skin. Karkat shivers.

"nnno. Too sssssslloow. They cannnn't moovve righhht. And weeak. They arre delicaate."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/11/2020

Something kinda funny about that, Karkat thinks. A delicate monster. 

He watches Dave in silence for a while. After his bite, the naga had seemed happy enough to let Karkat be, and Karkat himself is already making plans on looking about a bit more when they go back to the nest, for fruiting trees and bushes. 

Hm. 'The nest'. Like he was a part of this. 

Rather then contemplate that, "So, I assume this 'he' you talk about is the same person who taught you human language? Where did 'he' pick that up from? I don't know of anyone from my people who has stories of teaching a giant snake to conjugate." It would have made a damn good story though.

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/11/2020

Dave nods and his eyes narrow. "Yesssss. Arssssha. Ourr- Ahhhh- Faaaarthhheeerr?" He stretches the word out, unsure of its pronunciation. "Heee wasssss terrible. Leffft asss sssssooon asss he wassss ssssure we would not die withhh out himmm"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/11/2020

"Oh." 

Oh. 

It slips out before Karkat can really control it. Their...father. 

Karkat finds himself stuck on that. The demons had parents. Of course, the longer he's here, the less and less that word is cropping into his mind, looking over the three. It suddenly seems silly to think of Dave and Hal and Dirk as anything other then..beings of flesh and blood, just like Karkat himself. 

Who felt. 

"Sorry to hear that." He says lamely. 

Suddenly those words are back, surging like bile to behind his teeth. He reaches over and plants a hand on Dave's back - the snake part, anyway. "Well you clearly don't need him now, wherever the asshole is. Hell, you rule these damn woods, you know?"

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/11/2020

He starts at the touch, and looks down at Karkat. His eyes are wide. "I do?" 

Gods he sounds cute when he's suprised

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/11/2020

"Uh...yeah?" Karkat says, incredulous. "You took down a jaguar like it was a rat. Three fully grown men in one go - what the fuck, are you serious? Look at you! The both of you! You're a killing machine!" 

Alright, so maybe the flattery can...can stop now, yeah.

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/11/2020

At his words the naga slumps. His tail dips into the water and flicks around gently. He lets out a quiet sigh, looking down at himself. He sees his claws, his scars, the bones in his tail. He was made into a warrior, a hunter. He did it to protect himself, and his brothers. to provide for them, but-

"I do not want to be."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/11/2020

A pit opens in Karkat's stomach as Dave pulls back, deflating as much as he was able, suddenly looking more like a pile of wet rope and morose teen then the majestic, deadly being Karkat had just detailed. 

Did he - oh shit. Uh. "W-well, it's. Still a good thing to at least know all of that," Karkat tries to recover. The last thing he wanted was to make the fucking only thing keeping him alive at the moment upset. 

And. Just. Gods, did he hate seeing people mopey. Call it a disorder. 

That, and. Ok, well, maybe another part, smaller then that first one, but still definitely there and starting to burn a little hotter, was. Jealous. Dave had everything Karkat sometimes wished he'd had growing up, getting kicked around, and worse. A means of protection and a way to make it on his own. 

He found himself scowling at the rocks, setting the fish aside, finally. "Why not, anyway? No one out here to take advantage of you. Yuo can do whatever the hell you want, man. No one's gonna fuck with you when you can just eat 'em or squish 'em. You should be grateful you're not like me."

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/11/2020

That gets Daves attention. He sits up and looks at Karkat. 

"Like you?"

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/11/2020

(murnin)

I've decided that sniddies are illegal. There will be no snake tiddy in this jam

Also I think Bro has other children and is a much better parent to then

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/11/2020

(morning this is the funniest thing to see first thing I come on)

(sniddies are completely illegal in all canons of ours for naga)

(now im just imagining bby sneks and little Dave and Dirk and Hal curled arounf Bros hands and arms)

Karkats guiet ire simmers, and settles, turning instead to something harder and much more bitter. 

"Yeah, you know. Human. Pathetic. Someone you can look at and just tell he's a good little plaything when you're bored and looking for something to chase across the village or set dogs to, or set the shelter he's staying in on fire to watching him panic." 

Karkat grinds his teeth, still tasting the blood from Dave's innocent gift. "You know. Unwanted."

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/11/2020

"We are. Unwanted. Too. Bad omennsss." Dave looks away, shoulders hunching up and head dropping down.

"Dirk and Hal meann unnresssst. And I meann...."

He clenches his jaw, closing his eyes as he seems to steady himself. 

"Death."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/11/2020

Well. 

"That's..final," Karkat says at length after that..explanation. 

Granted, now he feels like the real asshole here. He'd never been called a bad omen or harbinger of evil - just a public nuisance the leaders in their community put up with because his father had apparently saved them in some way Karkat was never allowed to know about. 

He doesn't like the way Dave's face has shifted, either. Suddenly cold and closed off, angry but the anger more like long-past storm clouds, dark and foreboding but for other skies. The frustration palpable in the air. 

It's more then familiar. 

"..Why not just kill you?" Karkat asks, quietly.

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/11/2020

"To Kill a bad omen makessss it worsssse." Dave says. He crossed his arms. "Ssssso inssstead they abandon usssss out here."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/11/2020

Karkt actually looks about at that. The green trees, sunlight dazzling off the water and off wet, white scales. The birdsong, animals calling to each other in the great distance. 

'Out here' didn't seem so bad. But what did he know. He was just a little human who got his ass roped into all this, unwillingly even. "Sounds like a shitty way of dealing with bad omens to me," Karkat says.

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/11/2020

Dave looks over at him, and smiles his closed mouth smile. He scoots over so he can lean on Karkat.

"Ssss' tradition. Thankssss though."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/11/2020

(whip snakes are so fucking ridiculous - that's a shoelace with eyes)

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/11/2020

(lmao)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/11/2020

For once, Karkat doesn't tense up at the casual contact the naga makes, and the clenching in his gut lessens with Dave's uptick in tone. 

Maybe Karkat could do something without it turning into a conflagration fit for a King's pyre. 

Dave seems more then happy to settle in or the moment - he did say it would take a while for Dirk and Hal to finish..doing whatever it is snakes did to shed, and at some point Karkat ends up dozing off again with him.

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/11/2020

He wakes to the sound of splashing and hisses laughter. Dirk and Hal are back, their skin and scales shiny in the evening light. They're sitting on a nearby rock, watching Dave Catch fish. They seem, happy.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/11/2020

Karkat sits up

and his hand meets something soft. 

He looks down and sees the rocks he'd been sitting on earlier covered with clumps of reeds, leave, and moss, making for a much better sleeping place then just bare, hard rock. Dave..must have gathered that while Karkat was sleeping. To make sure he wasn't hurt. 

Karkat swallows down the feelings that come up with that simple action. How long had it been since someone had taken such..care? With him? 

He looks back up, seeing the three idly eating and..chatting? It was obviously a language, though to Karkat's ears, it sounded like..well. A bunch of hissing and spitting and growling. 

Getting up, he beings to make hs way over. And not think about the mest Dave had constructed for him. "You look uh. Good," he tells Dirk and Hal.

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/11/2020

One of them (the red eyed one) hisses quietly.

"Thankssss. You don't."

"Hal, do not beee rude." The other one, Dirk, says. "are you hungry?"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/11/2020

Karkat snorts at the left naga's words, rolling his eyes. "Hey, I helped haul your thirty foot ass down here when you were acting like a fainting maiden, and after the few days I've had, I think I more then deserve to look as rumpled as I want." 

He blinks - well. Yes. He is. After all, it was only a bite to placate Dave he'd taken that afternoon. He looks down at the bones and offal scattered on the rocks and washing away in the water from Dave's catches, and..pales a little again. Fuck..

He'd..have to, huh? "..Yeah," he sighs.

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/11/2020

Dirk nods, and Taps Hal. They both slide into a more upright position, and Dirk reaches up into a low hanging tree. He rummages in the branches, and comes down with a mango. 

"Here. You might like thiss better than fisshh"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/11/2020

(I also headcanon that to move faster on their own, hal and dirk have to wrap their middle arms around each other)

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/11/2020

(ye)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/11/2020

Oh - shit. Well. 

Karkat takes the offered fruit with a nod and sits. 

Hal offers him the knife then, and goes back to whatever he was talking about with Dirk when Karkat interrupted. Again..the (uncomfortable?) realization strikes Karkat that. He's got a knife in his hands, Dave's knife, and Hal and Dirk are right There, and apparently, in Dave's words, 'delicate and weak'. 

Karkat cuts into the mango, scraping out the pit, juice running down his hands and into the water. 

This all feels very strange. Peaceful. Why.

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/11/2020

He has no idea. The fruit is sweet on his tongue, washing away the taste of fish.

Hal watches the human, Karkat, eat with narrowed eyes. He was almost sure that he would stab them if given the chance. Wrong, apparently. 

{"So, Dave. Tell us again why you don't want to eat this one anymore?"}

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

Dave is cleaning himself in the water, enjoying the calm of the coming evening. Under the trees it will be much darker, and the glowbugs will be starting up soon. He should catch some later tonight - or tell his brothers to. 

At the question though, he stops and sends a flat look to Hal. {"I told you already. He's just..different. Not very single thing big enough to be prey I come across needs to be meat."} 

He pretends he doesn't see Dirk's narrowed eyes.

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

{"you know we are forbidden to take mates of any kind, Dave."} He says. Dave hisses at him.

{"I know! That- it's not what I meant at all!"} When Dave blushes his whole body turns pink. It's happening now, as Dirk watches.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

Hal looks between Dave and the human, who looked rather deep in his own brooding. 

{"What do you mean, then? You said the two of you talked. What of? It can't be that interesting - did you even understand half its mumblings?"} 

The red eyed naga laughs, {"It's not forbidden, but it's not like we can be friends, either."}

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

Dave glares up at them. {"He is unwelcome among his own kind. Beaten, treated like a pest that doesn't deserve even the most basic of dignities. His tormentors didn't even see fit to end his suffering by their own hands does that sound familiar to the two of you? Or have you forgotten those who strung you up by your necks for their own amusement?"}

He practically spits out his last few words, and the amusement dies on both boys faces. They look at each other, and Dirk puts his arm around Hal's waist. 

{"We remember, Dave."}

{"Then you should have more sympathy for a being who suffered in the same way."}

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

(that was dramatic. I enjoy it immensely)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

(I am Eating this angst)

(it's also kinda interesting how they Know why they're here)

(like, some kind of weird partial martyr complex where they're 'serving their people' by..being out of the way and not dying too early)

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

(basically. The dignified martyrs)

(the people of their birth settlement... Weren't kind to Hal and Dirk. Its only the fact that Dave was hatched in the same clutch that kept them alive. All three hatched together means that the effects will get worse if they die)

(also, Rose is a blind Seer)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

(she iss. She's their older sister, as well as roxy, and a large part of the reason the boys are still alive at all. She was..only three or four when they hatched, and fortold the bad shit that would happen if the elders allowed for them to be killed)

(I don't think she was blind yet, or maybe an incedent here made her blind, or maybe she was born blind)

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

(I think being blind makes her a Seer)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

(ye)

(I also think the humans in this hate the naga because magic comes from the naga in their eyes, and since Sign was likely also a Seer - who did have contact with the naga - it piled up and they said fuck this and killed him)

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

(yeah basically. He probably was also a doctor, and helped clear up some kind of disease, which is why they didn't immediately kill Karkat)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

Hal grimaces, and looks away, face dark and moody. He mutters something neither Dave nor Dirk wish to interpret. He doesn't want to upset their brother any more, and Dirk's hand about his hip is scratching just slightly at the new, sensitive skin - a warning. 

The human is watching them, interest but no light of understanding in its - his - eyes. 

{"So,"} Dirk begins, {"You do this out of..pity? There are other humans out there. He could find them, find a new place where they don't know him. You know that, right?"} 

His look softens to something a bit less accusatory. {"You don't have to do this to take this upon yourself."}

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

Dave looks away, face set in an expression of annoyance.

{"Well, Maybe I want to."} He slips into the water, and swims over to Karkat, pulling himself up onto the rock next to him.

"Hi."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

(dave: It's not gay

dave: * catches fish for him* * saves him from jaguar* * kills a man(3) for hi-*

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

(Also technically the boys are naked, because they don't wear clothes)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

(its true)

(they're only 'decent' by human standards which is to say no peen show)

(if you aint at least wearing a shirt in naga society BITCH, YOU NOOD)

(even w/o sniddies)

Karkat sees...something go down between the three of them, and does feel that same crawl of anxiety in his gut. His hand reflexively curls on the knife. When Dave scoots over to him though, looking..tired, but still friendly enough, he tries to relax. It's just Dave. 

That's all. 

"Riveting," he says, licking his fingers. "Is uh..everything ok?"

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

"yessss." he pauses, and as he does he goes pink. Is he blushing?

"I asssked my brothersss if you could sssstay with ussss. Asss, a friend. not food. Do you want to?"

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

(Quietly imagines Dave Dirk and Hal ganging up on Karkat. lmao)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

oh don't worry karkat, they'l be eating you someday

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

(Eating you OUT)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

bu dum ttss

...ba dum HISS

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

(Ftm Kat y/n)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

(YE)

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

(Karkat, the lone naga with sniddies lmao))

(that he doesnt want)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

Karkat blinks, and looks over to Hal and Dirk, talking quietly to each other, Hal looking moody and Dirk quietly unfazed. 

He looks back towards the path to the waterside, worn from Dave and the twins using it over the years. 

He thinks of the burned scrapheap that was his 'home' and the people there, his 'life' before being stupid enough to think he could get away with something for once for the good someone who hadn't even said thank you, the ropes and words and cheering. 

He looks back to Dave. His hopeful, slightly rosy face and ears.

"If you're really looking to torture yourselves more..fine."

(PHDGJSD)

(boy..will be come.. snaK)

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

"It is no torture. I can hunt for all of usss." He wraps his tail around Karkat's legs, and takes his hands. 

"You dessserve to feel ssssafe."

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

I actually have an idea when it comes to the twins reproductive setup

Snakes have 2 dicks right? Well, Hal has the dick for fertilizing and Dirk has the dick for eggs

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

Omg

I love intersex naga

Well, Hal, anyway

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

Ye!

They don't really base gender on sex

Like, Rose is a fertilizer

I want her to have a conversation with Karkat about this. Like Kat goes "I'm a man, I can't be Dave Dirk and Hal's mate!" And Rose is like "of course you can, you don't have to have to have a dick to be a man here"

(also I have signless backstory)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

(I figured you did lmao)

Also I love All of they

This is ofc after the settlement Chills about Dave and Dirk and Hal and agree thay they can visit the clan, as long as they don't stay too long

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

Signless was a naga, but he fell in love with a human woman. To be with her, he shed his tail and learned to walk on two legs. They got married and had Karkat, which is why he has the ability to go back and forth if he wants to. Also the teeth on that necklace are his dad's

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

Thats..both sweet and morbid lol

His mother is the only other human in the naga clan

The humans think she's dead after attempting to drown her

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

She snuck away (her chosen form is a water snake) but she never was able to get close enough to get her son out of there

That will be an emotional reunion

Karkat thinks he's alone in the world, suddenly seeing his mom (and maybe Kankri who I think was born with a tail) would be a huge shock

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

(yyyeee

Karkat can easily blame the heat that comes to his face on the residual temperature of the day gone by. He's not sure how good the snake persons night vision is, but he..hopes his skin tone hides the color rising to his own face. 

"I-" 

What was there to really say? No, do t care? No, stop offering better things then Karkat'd had in years? 

"Fine," he mutters, avoiding the gaze of the other two. "But I'm helping! No offense, but I don't think I've ever seen a skeletal snake. Thanks for the imagery."

(Dis is also another reason Dave and the Twins get back into the clan)

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

Dave looks down at himself and huffs quietly, amused. 

"Faiir enough. Help isssss appreciiiated. Cannn you hunnnt?"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

"Uh." 

Karkat shuffles. 

"Not exactly. Um. Not like you."

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

Dave tilts his head slightly. 

"Of courssssssse not like meee. You hassss no taiiill."

{"That's not what he means Dave"} Dirk calls from the opposite bank. Dave glares at him.

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

(hhhhh I'm imagining Dis seeing Karkat for the first time in like 4 years and just, wham, instantly hugging)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

(she curl around her baby)

(maybe too tightly lmao lose the tail before epic hugs)

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

(Karkat is freaking out before he realizes who she is. Mostly because she still smells like the river and lemongrass.)

(then he's vividly remembering sitting in the bedroom of his small house, his mom wrapped around him)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

(hh he's clinging to her as he recalls the last time he ever had a peacful moment in the village)

(she had seemed nervous coming home, but had assured him and kankri things were ok)

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

(he'd blocked out the memory of Kankri being a naga. He just thought his older brother had died with the rest of his family

(seeing him there is quite a shock)

(he almost expects to see his Dad, alive and well, but. They'd cut off his head. He'd seen it. There was no way he survived)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

(poor kid)

(Dualscar got his familie's scar from the incident)

(although Sign injured him enough to kill him while fighting (though he didn't mean to) he commanded all his line receive the scarring as a mark of status)

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

(bastard deserved it)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

{"Fine then, oh great human-speak interpreter, what does he mean?"} Dave asks, before blinking and turning back to Karkat. 

"What isss..mean? I can tteeach." 

{"If he were any more empty-headed I'd worry about rainwater collecting inside,"} Hal says to Dirk.

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

Karkat flushes and looks down, avoiding his eye. He doesn't answer right away. 

{"He doesn't eat meat you dolt."}

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

Dave's look goes consternated. {"But..earlier-"}

Dirk cuts him off. {"He left the whole thing on the side once he'd made you happy."} There's the hint of a smile to his lips as he says so. {"He seems to care about that."}

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

Dave turns bright pink again and flops sideways onto the rock, hiding in his tail.

{"Shut up!"}

Karkat blinks at the sudden reaction, and looks over at Dirk.

"Did I do something wrong?"

\-----

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

Cronus is telling anyone who would listen that his lackeys were eaten by a demon

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

And showing them the new wounds. Dave's claws were sharp with use, and had torn the shirt pretty badly. The marks themselves reaches around the man's shoulder and onto his back. 

They weren't more then skin-deep, easily could have been made by a branch or stone. 

The lack of the other two returning makes for a bit more believability, however.

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

His father, especially, seems to believe the story. Gods know how many times he's ranted about the family of demons that his soldiers had discovered. Cronus himself had seen the surprisingly human looking skull on his father's wall.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

The only thing to give it away as anything other then actually human being the shape of the jaw - split down the middle, able to open far beyond human standards. 

Only enough, its teeth had been removed, down to the last molar. His father had never explained that, and after the mood it had set off when Cronus, young and foolish, had questioned it, he never asked again. 

"And you are certain of what you saw, boy? You dare not disgrace this house with lies and liquor-lore and jumping at shadows?"

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

"I'm certain father. It was just like you described. Half man, and half snake. It killed my men in a single strike, without breaking a sweat. It has to be one of the demons."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/202

The older man looks..disconcerted. He sits in his chair of ornately carved wood covered in furs like a king before an empty court. In his one hand, he toys with something. It glitters red in the firelight, oblong and smooth. 

"..And I assume the little witch's son is dead, too." He turns the full force of his stare to Cronus. "You did make sure of it, as I instructed? AS I told you it must be?"

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

Cronus pales. 

"When we went back to check the brat was gone. I assume, that whatever it was killing my men did the same to 'im."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

Cronus got the benefit of having the Pale Snake be distracted with its gorge when he'd stumbled across it. Cronus had taken the highground with the element of surprise. 

His father moved just as fast, and had been ready long before the young man had finished his last word.

Cronus chokes around the hand gripping his neck, forcing him up and back out of the chair. 

"You mean the thing is still alive out there?"

(he means karakt)

Berd Alert (Cassa)07/12/2020

"I-I don't know! If he is, then it won't be for long, the boy can't hunt, can't defend himself. He'll be dead in a week for sure." He chokes out, clawing at his father's hands. "He won't come back."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)07/12/2020

The older man growls in a way that Cronus isn't sure he didn't hear just earlier that same day from something...he may just be less terrified of. 

Dualscar's eyes are burning in the low light, red scale clenched in his hand as his gaze flickers to the skull mounted on the wall. "For your own hide's sake, boy...you'd better hope so. Else you'll have worse then serpents in the woods to worry your fool head over." 

With a swing of his arm, the younger man is thrown to the floor. "Get out. Collect some more of the rabble out there for a quest of futility if your ego insists. Leave saving every one of this place's useless carcasses to the competent."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 12:10 AM

The younger man scrambles backwards, and leaves the room. The old man glares at the door until the sound of his sons receding footsteps fade. Then he turns to face the skull mounted on his wall.

"It seems my job is not yet finished. I hope your son is as much of a challenge as you were, my old enemy."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:12 PM

I think Dualscar starts sending out hunting parties for Karkat. It means he gets cooped up in the best with Dirk and Hal

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:15 PM

You mean Hal and Dirk capture dualsxar

Or that karkat is kept in the nest to hide him

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:16 PM

That second one

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:16 PM

Ye

Dave risks himself keeping the parties busy, leading them on false trails

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:19 PM

Hey gotta keep his siblings and mate friend safe

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:20 PM

Dualscar is much harder to scare off in the middle of the night though

He knows best what signs in the underbrush to look for

And knows to look up

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:23 PM

Dave has some close encounters with him, and the human manages to knock loose one of his fangs, but Dualscar can't catch him.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:24 PM

This makes Dirk and Hal nervous about staying

It's a three day spell of Dave not Cong back to the nest (on his side, for fear of Dualscar tracking him) that makes Karakt quietly ask of they ought to move.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:27 PM

Dirk and Hal look at him Like he said they should set themselves on fire. 

"Are you kidding? Where would weee go?"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:31 PM

Karkat groans and sighs, setting down the bone he's carving idle designs into. Keeping his hands busy helps distract from the thought that one of these times, Dave might not..

"I don't know. Someone. Somewhere. Who can take us in until these lunatics give up."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:34 PM

The twins look at each other, then move closer to Karkat, wrapping him up in their tail. Dirk puts his arms around him. "We aren't welcome with othersss of our kind. It doesss not end well for usss." As he speaks, Hal rubs the scar around his neck.

(oooh idea. They send Karkat to explain the situation to the leader of the naga clan)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:49 PM

(ooh yes. And Karkat is the one to suggest it.

(Which Dave and the twins protest. It's dangerous)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:50 PM

(yeye)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:51 PM

(also, side note, that tooth Dualscar managed to collect from Dave grants him juuuust a little bit of naga power)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 2:51 PM

(yesssss(

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 2:55 PM

"We can't just let Dave keep going out there until something worse happens!" Karkat cries, hands clenching on the bone, cutting into his hands. "You don't know the old man..he's ruthless. His son is worse."

He closes his eyes, curling himself into the hugging coils. "I don't - I can't lose this.."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 3:02 PM

Dirk leans down and presses his cheek to the top of the humans head. Hal gives him a surprised look, that action is equivalent to a kiss.

"I know. We'll keep you safe, I promise. He won't find you."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 3:09 PM

Karkat can't believe that. Not as much as he wants to. Dirk can't know that. 

Dave gets back to the nest that night by sliding in from above, having spent the day making his way across the forest through the tops of trees. The hunter has been getting better at spotting his trails on the ground. He slumps, exhausted into the pile, bruised and weary, limp.

His mouth is hanging open, showing the bloody, busted hole, half his face swollen. The others can barely understand him.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 3:14 PM

Karkat makes up his mind then. This can't go on. It's too much risk. 

"Dirk? Where is the rest of your clan?"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 3:24 PM

Dirk won't answer, but Hal, ever his foil, flicks his eyes to the blue hills of the mountains, rising in waves in the distance. 

"No," Dave slurs out, "th' kill yu.."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 3:31 PM

Karkat gives him a strained smile and takes his hand. "And they'll kill you if we stay here, Dave. I have to try."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 4:37 PM

They argue, and Dave is very angry and scared. He insists on waiting a few days to see if they've given the hunting parties the slip first, and so Dave can heal up a little, before setting out. It will take a while to get there.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 4:38 PM

Karkat eventually agrees to that. The night he's supposed to leave Dave corners him in the nest and kisses him.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 4:39 PM

Karkat can't..really say he's surprised by this turn. That's not even a turn. It hadn't been long, but Dave is cute, and brave, and loves Karkat so rawly it's something he's not had in years. 

He worries about waking up the sleeping twins (who aren't sleeping fyi, but letting Dave have a moment with the human as they've had plenty of small ones with him over his stay). 

Dave holds him a bit tighter that night. "Might noott..get to do thissss 'gain.."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 4:46 PM

Karkat pulls Dave closer and buries his face in Dave's soft hair, breathing him in. He's warm tonight, and Karkat wants nothing more than to hold him and never let go.

"You will. I promise. I won't let them get me."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 4:52 PM

Dave doesn't say more. Neither does Karkat. What else was there? 

The morning creeps in like always, with birdsong and mist. There is rain gathering in the air, a terrible storm, somewhere over the hosizon. For now though, things are quiet. 

Dave helps him down the tree, as always, and Karkat double checks his pack.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 4:55 PM

Food, water, ropes, and Dave's knife. For luck, he had said. Karkat turns back to Dave and kisses him again. 

"Be safe, I'll be back soon."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 5:07 PM

(should he get caught by nagas?)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 5:08 PM

(probably)

(we did say that they were paying attention to Dave and Dirk and Hal from a distance after all)

(also, healthy adult naga are..a bit bigger then humans)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 5:10 PM

(hell yes)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 5:10 PM

(and yes..a large part of the warriors in the clan are venomous)

(and v colorful. yall ever see vipers?)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 5:11 PM

(yeass)

He gets caught by Jade.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 5:17 PM

She's more curious about him then worried or angry. She doesn't outright attack him, but does tie him up to be taken immediately. He says he's here on behalf of Dave and the twins, if she knows them, and she tells him there's not a person in the clan who doesn;t at least know of them.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 5:21 PM

She carries him into the clan camp and sets him down in the square. Thereès more nagas than he ever thought was possible, of every hue and and size. He feels very intimidated.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 5:23 PM

(also, side note, all the bbys are kept w their parents when they get old enough to leave the little nest in bags or baskets the parents carry around bc they WILL wander off)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 5:25 PM

(YESSSSSsssssssssssss)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 5:25 PM

The clan housing itself is built in a series of tall buildings and tree houses. There are no steps, only rope..climbs? And poles worn smooth with years of use. 

Jade is joined by her own siblings, who look over Karkat curiously. This is when it strikes Karkat that they're all wearing clothing..

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 5:26 PM

He feels retroactively flustered.

"Please, I need to talk to your leader-"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 5:28 PM

There's a wordless cry, from somewhere behind him, and Karkat doesn't get a moment to even turn before arms are about him and he's lifted off the ground, yelling and watching Jade and the rest's eyes go wide.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 5:33 PM

Strong, tanned and scarred arms are wrapped around his waist, and thick black hair falling in a curtain on either side of him. The scent catches him off guard, dust and warm water and the sharp sting of lemongrass. Achingly familiar, and something he'd never thought he'd feel again.

"Mom?"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 5:40 PM

The chest he's being held close to is shaking, soundless sobs shuddering out between half formed words. 

He's turned around, and a face he recalls only in his dreams meets his, smiling in snake's teeth and slitted, hazel eyes. "Hello, baby.." she says, gripping his shoulders.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 5:45 PM

He feels like he's going to faint. His family is dead. His mother and father were killed when he was little, and his older brother followed them soon after. He's been alone all this time and she was here

"How- they said, the river-" he looks down. His mother had legs, he's sure of it. But this woman has a long, elegant black tail. He looks back up.

"You're a naga."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 6:07 PM

Her smiles is still weepy as she strokes back his hair (Hal and Dirk had taken to toying with it, braiding it as it got longer and weaving little bone beads into it.) "I thought you were gone..my little treecat." 

The smile slips as she looks down, and begins tugging free the ropes keeping him bound. Behind him, he can hear the female naga shift uneasily as her catch is let loose. One of the woman - his mother's hands comes up to rest delicately on a necklace around her neck, one of many. Pearly white teeth, all sharp and polished, hide in her draped clothing and waves of ebony hair. 

"I'm not. But..he was." 

She slips the last of the ropes off and cups his face. "Your father."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 6:11 PM

"Dad? He was..." He needs to sit down. Yep, he's sitting down. Right here in the middle of the square. "I can't- is he here? Is Kankri here? Why didn't you-"

Why did you leave me behind?

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 6:20 PM

His mother looks at him for a long time, a million things in her eyes. She lowers herself to his level, and draws him closer. 

"You three," she says to the group, "tell the Elders..that my son has found us. He is with me, in my nest. If they wish to speak with me, they may find me. Go on!" 

Karkat belatedly hears shuffling an the soundless noise of scales on the ground as they move off. His mother looks back down to him. "Come. I. I will..explain."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 6:29 PM

He stands on Shaking legs, and holds onto her as they got to the nest she apparently lives in. There are again, no stairs, and she picks him up in one arm so she can scale the almost sheer rock face. When they reach the top a voice calls out from inside.

"Mother? You're back early, did you find-" another, smaller naga pokes his head out of the open doorway, and his words sir when he sees Karkat. 

"Kankri." Karkat says. His older brother stares at him like he's something out of a fairytale.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 6:43 PM

Kankri doesn't rush to embrace Karkat as his mother had done. Karkat has the same vague recollections of him as he does of Dis, and the young naga looks wary and shocked and is looking back and forth between them while the woman comes fully inside and sets Karkat down. 

She coils her tail around Karkat's feet while she moves to comfort her elder son. "Kri, he's come home. Your brother is home." 

"They told me you were next," Kankri blurts. "After they tried to drown me, they told me 'I'd be seeing you soon'."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 6:50 PM

Karkat curls up into himself, grateful for the solid weight of his mother's tail. 

"They tried. Burned down the house while I was inside it. And. More, after that. They never managed to kill me though."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 6:54 P

Kankri gapes at him, incredulous. Karkat notices then that he doesn't take much after their mother in this form. His tail is not a solid black, but black with thin red lines tracing down on either side. It reminds him of Hal. 

Fuck. 

"Wh- well why are you all the way out here? Karkat, how in the world did you get out here? Who told you?" Kankri's face pales, as much as a naga's is able. "Karkat, do people know we're out here?"

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 7:24 PM

"No! No, they have no idea that you're here. I've been living with Dave and the twins, the banished ones? They saved my life after Cronus Ampora strung me up in a tree. They're in danger out there I came here to ask if they could come back."

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 7:51 PM

Kankri looks to his mother at this, who doesn't look fazed. Only..tired, and sad, but still keeping her son close. He replies, "Those three..I've been told about them. I haven't been able to voice them because the elders here are sure to remind me that my being and mother using the last gift of father's is the only reason we weren't sent away. I was told they were wild and needed to be kept there, for fear of the worst coming to this clan." 

He narrows his eyes. "If humans manage to get a hold of them, and get something out of them, everyone's in trouble."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 10:37 PM

Before he goes back to the twins and Dave, Dis gives him the necklace of his Father's teeth. Half of them, she keeps the other half. Having a tail is, very weird.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 10:39 PM

Bc technically it's not a tail and he just doesnt have legs anymore, it's an elongated body and it Moves

It takes him longer to get back to the nest, to tell Dave and the Twins the good news

and share this..new body development with them

but

they're not there

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 10:43 PM

His panic is total and immediate. The nest looks like there was a struggle, bones and jars scattered and part of the lower wall broken open. He knows where they went.

He knows who took them.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Yesterday at 10:48 PM

Of course. 

Here they were, thinking of Karkat, worrying about him in their clan among their people when they just did him the biggest kindness he's had in his life - his brother and mother, his past, the endless nights wonderign why him, why him, what did he do wrong and given him the biggest weapon of all..

and he left them alone. Dave wounded, Hal and Dirk unable to fight well, or even run fast enough. 

Karkat finds moving with the tail easier when he's mad.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Yesterday at 11:22 PM

He crashes through the forest, and when he reaches the river he doesn't hesitate before diving in. He can see the village on the other side. The funeral pyre they're erecting. He has to hurry.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Today at 12:33 AM

Dirk and Hal and Dave are all being kept by Dualscar and co in a cage in the middle of the place. Dave's concussed and looks to be missing patches of scales. Hal and Dirk are being forced apart, tied to opposite sides of the cage in a painful twist to their spine(s) and hips. 

Cronus is crowing something to the crowd.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Today at 1:13 AM

Karkat doesn't think. He just moves. Hes up on the platform, and Dualscar is shouting in rage and suprise. He has Dave's knife in his hand and he sinks it into the hateful old bastards chest, hissing. Venom drips from newly formed fangs and burns the old man as Karkat kills him.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Today at 1:16 AM

(what kind of snake did we say karkat was?) 

Call it petty, but as the old man goes down, Karkat snaps the twine holding Dave's tooth from his neck. It's not his to keep, nor any other human's. Funny, he thinks..how easily he's come to consider them different from himself. Reaching out, between the bars, he cuts Hal and Dirk loose, and gently brushes back Dave's hair, clumped from blood. 

Cronus is still there, though. Eager, in the bloodshed and screaming civilians for his chance, finally.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Today at 1:16 AM

(Coral, one of the most poisonous)

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Today at 1:18 AM

(have teef. defend bfs)

Berd Alert (Cassa)Today at 1:21 AM

It's Hal who alerts him to the human behind him screaming his name, and Karkat turns just in time to avoid a knife to the back. The blade cuts into his arm and he shrieks.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Today at 1:25 AM

Cronus isn't playing games this time. Not after everything he went through to get here. After almost having that glory stolen yet again by his monster slayer father. 

While Karkat's distracted by the wound, Cronus manages to nab the tooth away. His own grin turns sharp.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Today at 1:27 AM

Karkat glares at him, and the hiss that comes out of his mouth almost sounds like a growl. 

{"That doesn't belong to you!"}

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Today at 1:35 AM

It's yet another face-off. 

But there can be no running this time. Not with Dave blinking in and out, being held by Hal and Dirk looking wide-eyed and fearfully on from their sturdy prison. 

Cronus blinks, and his eyes slit. The hand wrapped around his knife flexes and his nails are claws. His skin is rougher, taking on the patchiest of scaling. There's not enough magic in the single, juvenile dentition for the same transformation as Karkat bears about his neck, but it's more then enough for the..human? 

{Kssnot yourrrkrkrrkkr kil l llll,} Cronus hisses, half human speech, half naga in an unsettling rattle. 

He lunges.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Today at 1:41 AM

It's a good thing he's so angry he's not accurate in his strike. Karkat moves back and slams his tail into the charging beast, knocking him to the ground.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Today at 1:51 AM

He doesn't want to turn his back on the thing wheezing in the dust, and backs up a bit to be out of range of that blade. He hisses to the others. 

"Can this thing open?"

Berd Alert (Cassa)Today at 1:52 AM

Hal nods, pointing up to the top of the cage. 

"Up there, Hurry!"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Today at 2:15 AM

Karkat scrambles atop the cage, the awkwardness of his new body still unfamiliar, despite the constant thrum of yesyesyesrightcorrectGOOD in his chest. Even now, with his and the ones he loves' very lives in danger, it's still there, singing out. 

Cronus kneels in the dirt, mouth splitting on a shriek as he sees the little monster undoing the latches at the flat top of the cage. 

The last one breaks open as he throws his knife.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Today at 2:17 AM

The blade Catches Karkat in the shoulder and he falls, but its too late, The twins are hauling Dave out of the cage, and Dirk grabs Karkat's limp body. 

"C'mon, We can't carry you both Karkat! Wake up!"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Today at 2:23 AM

{"Little monster ain't gonna wake up,"} Cronus hisses as he stumbles to his feet, breath regained. {"Gonna die here with the rest of you. Three skulls on my wall and a crown of demon teeth wil be pretty hard to beat!!"} 

He comes closer, and if he were looking at anything but Hal and Dirk's terrified faces, he'd have seen Karkat's tail twitch as he nears.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Today at 2:25 AM

No one is quite sure what happens next. Karkat's eyes fly open, and he lunges. Cronus screams, teeth sink into his throat. They both tumble off the platform and hit the ground with a loud crunch.

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Today at 2:32 AM

There's a scuffle that lasts for only seconds. People who had gathered to watch the spectacle of seeing the demons die gasped and pointed and screamed as Karkat rose, mouth red, teeth flicked forward and panting like it was those breaths the only thing keeping him upright. Cronus lay in the dirt, still, human eyes open in shock. 

The naga's hand clenched around the tooth, and he looks up at the twins. At Dave. "..Sorry," he says, and slumps.

Berd Alert (Cassa)Today at 2:39 AM

When he wakes, the town square is on fire, and Dirk is helping drag him to the river bank. The look on his and Hal's faces are wild, scared, concerned, elated all mixing together as they make a break for freedom. 

"I know this isn't the time but what the hell happened to you!?"

Thinker (themarginalthinker)Today at 2:43 AM

Karkat groans and wiggles a bit, biting back more sounds as his shoulder errupts into searing, throbbing pain. Distantly, he can hear other..voices.. hissing and sreeching and the sound of metal on metal. Other voices like his nests'..

"Foun' th' clan..m...mmmymom..she's there.." he slurs, trying not to drag too much. It's alright though, they're at the water's edge. "Mbrother too..gave m-me teeth.."

Berd Alert (Cassa)Today at 2:50 AM

"We noticed!"

They splash into the water, seeping red with Karkat and Dave's blood. The shock of cold water seems to rouse Dave, and Karkat helps lift him up.

Long story short they get home and Dave and Karkat get a chance to heal up

  
  



End file.
